the u.s. is warning the latest fierce battles in syria will be a nail in president assad's coffin as a report on how youngsters are being increasingly drawn into the bloody conflict on both warring sides. broke with reverberations members of a russian punk band go on trial facing seven years in jail for a protest in the cathedral and the case has divided russian society. and another campaign promise goes i'm fulfilled as barack obama spends billions to prosecute whistleblowers showing the u.s. government is.

online on screen international news and comment live from moscow they were us military chief says the fighting in syria's largest city of aleppo will ultimately be a nail in president assad's coffin leon panetta is currently in the middle. now

the burial site and the nineteen year old suki is an army conscript who was tasked with putting bodies into conference it was working in his uncle small shop and before being drafted a year ago. no i'm not afraid to die i would do all that to be in the place of my fallen comrades and to become a martyr defending my country it's every man's duty and now the nineteen year old lies in a coffin just a few steps away he was the victim of a sniper near homs but unlike many in syria his father and uncle are not calling for revenge. we just want peace. jesus all the prophets

calls for peace we need it. martyrdom has long been glorified in muslim countries but it's also one of the reasons why the conflict in syria has been so protracted and sold deadly when the youngsters profess readiness to die for their cars they usually even more ready to kill for it. r.t. damascus syria. is constantly following the developments in the syrian standoff from inside the country she's sharing her firsthand experience via her twitter feed and says sectarian violence is increasingly looming in the conflict prominent people being killed apparently for their religious views analysis and images from the combat zone are also lined up there for you. or for more in syria i spoke to michel chossudovsky he's from the center for research on globalization and he believes there are indications that nato states may soon move from war mongering against the syrian regime to reelection. the u.s.

defense secretary leon panetta has reiterated washington's threats of military intervention accusing the syrian government forces of waging what he describes as a tragic attack on their own people quote unquote the west the military alliance is contemplating support of opposition rebel forces in fact they are the foot soldiers of the u.s. they took military alliance just want to quickly ask you about turkey's involvement in turkey's interest reports are surfacing that the turkish army has started to closely monitor weather conditions there in syria leading to speculation they could possibly be preparing to launch a strike how likely is that what they hope to achieve by that. so he is a member of nato it's a heavyweight in nato it has already encroaching on syria's northern border. is providing safe havens to the rebels it has training camps

it's collaborating with qatar is a solid is it is supporting the muslim brotherhood which muslim brotherhood fighters out of turkey so that these oppose these. indications should of course be taken very seriously. hear what you want to live from moscow still ahead rumanian president says scuse survives a second impeachment attempt. despite a large majority wanting him out of office for supporting rounds of paul just thirty counts the siskiyou shows that sometimes it's better to be lucky than good plus. mates off the list of countries most exposed to the climate in the here or find out why in the business updates or at least. if they shoot something inappropriate for public they can easily be. casualties of war ok.

i wish it would never happen but it has happened. in a war a t.v. camera becomes an unnecessary would destroy their own safety all foreign nationals including journalists and inspectors should leave iran. and the spear for thousands with such witnesses i got on my site. one of many respects. her shoes shooting on our. wealthy british style. markets why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy

with mike stronger for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into cars a report. sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then something else you hear or see some other part of it and realize everything you thought. i'm tom harkin welcome to the big picture. of the future science technology innovation all the latest developments from around russia we've got the future covered.

it was a music performance that split russian society and could land three members of a female punk band in jail for up to seven years three feminist rockers from pussy riot have gone on trial in moscow for staging an anti-government punk prayer in the capital's main cathedral sarah firth now reports public opinion is torn between those who call the martyrs and others who say they are blasphemous. the trial is now underway for the three girls from the provocatively named pussy riot this comes also the high profile stunt back in february where they performed a protest in the center of quite the same kids the drill that gained widespread recognition on the internet that it calls outrage amongst the religious community with paycheck karylle calling it blasphemy now they stand accused of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred although still a to other girls have pleaded not guilty to these charges but of course if that found guilty they could face up to seven he is in prison now the group maintaining

that they were protesting against the cool from their lives just leaders of the support of the now president putin is cool amounts of control of the city here in russia it really has divided the population you've got people taking very radical stances both ways the religious community have reacted very very strongly we have patriarch kirill coming out some calling it blasphemy girl's house he said not on used to this type of scandal they performed high profile stunts like this in the past there was video clips of the one in baltic clip in the museum here most go another of them kissing female police offices again they maintain this is political motivated this is that their artistic expression get a hair loss about the silliness of the stunts and a lot of the supporters saying that perhaps is misguided but the question is really now remain how and indeed even if these girls should be punished in this way for the stunt well promise that dimitri medvedev shares his opinion of pussy riot in an

interview with the u.k. he's the times newspaper and you can find if you don't come with us discover how nato is intervention in libya last year is impacting russia's stance on the crisis in syria as well as method of schools on the olympic games in london the whole sochi can prepare for twenty fifty. or so in just. it's in london that members of the so-called a little bit family feeling the heat with organizers pulling security troops inside to fill the void and find out more online. dot com. in two thousand and eight barack obama made a promise that if he was elected president he would make the u.s. government more transparent it's now twenty twelve and he's prosecuted

a record number of whistleblowers spending billions in the process. reports. keeping government secrets is expensive business according to america's information security office last year the us spent around thirteen billion dollars on classifications that's twice as much as it spends ten years ago and more than the entire budget of the country's environmental protection agency for instance the us government keeps way too many secrets here and even government entities responsible for evaluating these things like the office for government information oversight. these officers have may have done studies and said well you know a lot of this material doesn't need to be protected so it's in many ways it's a huge waste of money u.s. security agencies regularly fight in courts to keep volumes of decades old documents classified like the files on the cia's bay of pigs operation in cuba when the u.s. tried to overthrow fidel castro in one thousand nine hundred sixty one but the

sharp increase in secrecy over the last decade is due to america's expanding counterterrorism programs rather than on classified historical files the power that the national security state has acquired under president obama is greater than any time history. during the cold war period the government indicted only three people for disclosing classified information however the obama administration alone has prosecuted six government officials believe king information to the press more than all other past administrations combined and thomas drake was one of them it was a senior executive of america's largest intelligence agency during the bush administration he blew the whistle on fraud and abuse with regards to the agency's secret surveillance program mr drake was charged under the espionage act watch it was happening now particular my case it set it extraordinarily chilling message that anybody who i was a senior executive the government had

a very high position had a say. it sends an extraordinarily chilling message that if you speak out if you speak up we're going to hammer you and we're going to hammer you hard because look what we did to mr drake but after a public outcry last year the government dropped charges against thomas drake in exchange for him pleading guilty to a misdemeanor misuse of a government computer speaking truth to power is very dangerous and his world power elites. those in charge they don't like dirty linen being aired they don't like the skeletons in the closet being seen. and they not only do they object to it they decide to turn it into criminal activity national security john they say the government always has and always will leak information deliberately to advance their own interests and it's not at all leakers that they're after the primary. you're is that the national security state is striking back

is becoming much more repressive in regard to its response to whistle blowing by you know individuals who. oppose houses that are carried out or who oppose simply abuses of power the obama administration is spending record amounts to keep its secrets coming down hard on leakers and yet thousands of classified documents are making their way onto the web the internet has taken leaks to a whole new level but it seems the more the internet reveals the more upset the government becomes about secrecy i'm going to check out in washington r.t. . and while some in the u.s. a busy trying to silence those speaking out all those marginalize anyone who does not agree with mainstream politicians next talks to talk to howard friedman who argues the american political system disregards the interests of the poorest people

that. i can't under estimate the impact of money on the american political system and in fact there's some interesting analysis done by political scientists that show that people from the top third of the economic class have a very strong voice in government people in the middle third have a weak voice in government and it showed that people in the bottom third of the economic states have no measurable influence that's a real challenge in american democracy is to make sure that we really are in a world of one person one vote instead of dollar equals vote.

for money center here in the news continues now with remain as president surviving a referendum on his impeachment for the second time during his rule says who could

have been the latest leaders swept from office by the economic crisis and austerity measures demanded by the international credit is but a low turnout invalidated the poll allowing him to remain in power while he's just a city that has been following the story in bucharest. initial exit polls have come out on the remain a referendum vote on whether or not to impeach its suspended president of triad of a cesspool while the numbers show that it failed to reach the a fifty percent plus one vote a requirement in order to validate that vote now sunday's referendum is that ended the three weeks of political bickering really between the center right ever since and his rival center left her and the prime minister on top of the cesspool has accused of proteas of as well as overstepping his powers as president denies any wrongdoing or that he had done anything on constitutional what's going to happen next is that the cesspool will be reinstated as presidents as soon as the final numbers come out and if indeed invalidates that referendum vote let's not forget

his popularity has gone down a drastically ever since he introduced us there the measures in two thousand and ten as a result of i.m.f. a back financial funding and this is certainly not the way to be easy in a country that is very divided politically very tired of any political bickering and again these two sides seem to show that they are not going to stop accusing the other side of any wrong to we were already hearing some scandals coming out again coming from want to side and they will have to figure out a way to work together you have assessed before to still maintaining positions as president and prime minister what romania nice now really is political stability especially for its european counterparts who are watching this very closely insisting that the country find a way to stabilize the situation and to exercise the marker see the rule of law is still be a checks and balances in all the institutions. will have the latest business news with marina very shortly but first let's have a quick look at some of the stories making headlines around the world and update

this hour and first to colorado where the suspect in the massacre there has been formally charged with one of the bloodiest shootings in u.s. history james holmes is accused of killing twelve people and injuring fifty to the local premiere of the new movie if found guilty he could face the death penalty and whether his defense is expected to plead insanity if proven mentally ill his college psychiatrist could face charges for failing to prevent the tragedy before hand. nine people have been killed in poland after a train smashed into a minibus the vehicle apparently drove onto an unguarded crossing and was carried thirty meters down the track the identities of the victims haven't been released but it's thought they were ukrainian mineworkers is the latest in a series of road accidents in poland which has claimed more than two hundred lives this summer alone. u.s. republican presidential candidate mitt romney is continuing to make headlines on his world tour after appearing to criticize the london olympics is now in israel

where he referred to the disputed city of jerusalem as the country's capital you also claim jewish culture is more advanced than palestinian it's promote the wrath of palestinian officials who condemned his statements as racist and unacceptable despite this is towards reported have gained his campaign a million dollars in donations. well as promised time for business update now and there's merino wool street is the only one trading at the moment the session going there and then hi bill well normally what we're seeing is if we're seeing optimism in europe and other markets we're seeing americans do particularly well that's because they tend to be very optimistic when it comes to the markets but we're not seeing that today i'll get to that in a second but first i want to talk about a european you came particular because the country has topped the list in the list of countries most exposed to decline in the euro and all this is according to maple consultancy which actually made a map showing the most unsafe nations and they're shown they're in there and as you

about see there we go now the top four extremely vulnerable countries are the czech republic hungary poland and most of all the u.k. this study blames that on the heavy reliance on exports to the continent and europe as banking system fast major economies like russia are also called high risk and that discussed this issue earlier with nick parsons from national australia bank and first i asked him whether countries can minimize those risks. countries outside the eurozone can indeed seek to protect themselves they can cut interest rates they can print money in the case of countries like switzerland they can effectively put a floor on their exchange rate so they can seek to protect themselves against disruptive capital flows they can seek to protect themselves against a collapsing trade but all this is really seeking to minimize damage rather than avoid it why do you think the breaks in the african countries are also high risk i

looked at the reports and russia was ranked number fifty one hundred sixty nine in and that's really not what you'd classify is the highest risk so i think some of the spin that was put out was perhaps a little misleading obeyed bowl comforting for you guys over there. and stay with the issues than that i'm poor as reading service believes banking systems in russia and the c.i.s. are a little danger of being hit hard from the eurozone debt crisis and that's because there there are links with the european banks are limited however at the agency as the russian and c.i.s. banking systems could suffer if the global economic slowdown the weighs on oil and commodities prices. a second look at how you're performing earlier as i said there was optimistic in the air all around so you're not very well both the footsie and the facts added over a one percent and that's one hell of brussels will provide that economic stimulus of will announce it at least later on this week to me and spain did particularly

well today their words gainers if we move on and take a look at currencies the euro is reversing the last three weeks gains against the us dollar when it comes to the ruble it finished mixed against the major currencies against the euro. to the greenback and if we take a look at the russian markets that optimism that we saw in europe trickled down to investors here as well both the r.c.s. and the minus six added over one percent in just the selling norsk nicole was one of the companies that didn't present me well and also red gas from when the company was in fact named by forbes magazine as having those with the most profit in the world war two thousand and eleven and also we had need to be that particularly well after announcing that it would be jointly by a mobile operator that's involved garrett now and also other news i want to talk about seeing. for russian billionaires who own the half of the venture have voted against. a billion dollar dividend their representative said quote.

governance remains strained a payment now is not prudent this comes on reports the russian co-owners will sell their stake in the company to roles in the effort in which case b.p. will reverse is this isn't solely the consortium. and as i said there's passivism in the air when it comes to wall street the news in just north of there and the nasdaq approaching a half a percent in the red there what we have is after a day surge markets investors in general has since made good moves and also they're awaiting talks by the central bank and also a monthly jobs report so of course investors around the loop very cautious before something like that comes out but enough with the markets let's talk about luxury brands because shares in that are increasing particularly well the whole industry as the spine of the financial turmoil was seen around the world and katie will be when alone to find out why. the global financial crisis is not

a topic people shopping around this part of town are particularly worried about i'm here in moscow on one of the most exclusive stories on talking fabulous people designer labels and of course fat wallets as well and this is the exact market savvy investors are tapping into right now trying to make false cash out of people that love to spend it all a perfect example of this in recent years would be michael kors is a high end fashion house they've been producing clothes for over thirty years now based in hong kong announcing fragrances and accessories as well now. for the best performing i.p.o. and they were she placed number one now they came out with their initial public offering on the fourteenth of december last year and it's now trading at twice that amount and as far as asian companies are concerned seven of the maze up the top ten of the top. performance companies that's really is people in asia they're running

more money and generally have more disposable income to go shopping and that's really in spite of slowing growth in china and the european sovan debt crisis so it seems as to use coming in and. out a luxury goods at. least the life of the people in places like this set away. well let's say even if you have it now is a big careful in the future because you might not you never know what happens next they so say that's what i would say save save is a wise words from all things present a there you should know about that thank you very much in the marina i'll be back with the main headlines in just a few minutes stay with us live here in moscow this is a nazi. if

they shoot something inappropriate from the public they can easily be shown to accept casualties of war ok. i wish he would have never happened but it has. been a war a t.v. camera becomes an unnecessary what destroys their own safety all foreign nationals including journalists and inspectors should leave. and the spear what happens with such witnesses i got him on my site. many checks if.

mercy. on our. you know how sometimes you see a story and it seems so for lengthly you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realized everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom harpur welcome to the big picture.